- [Fwd: Nuclear Testing and Earthquakes]
http://www.applicom.com/pnews/earthquakes.htm
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998
Subject: [Fwd: Nuclear Testing and Earthquakes]Dave;
Please do not forget and overlook the fact that this question, Do nuclear explosions trigger earthquakes?, was one of the key issues in the battle fought between the eccentric billionaire Howard R. Hughes, the AEC, and two White House administrations from 1966-1972 (and beyond to some extent). A fight over the fallout from bomb testing had a damned sight more to do with Watergate than any other single factor!
As one of those deeply involved in that fight, I strongly suggest you obtain the book, Citizen Hughes by Michael Drosnin, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1985, ISBN 0403-041846-1, and read about it in Hughes' own words. It contains copies of the infamous yellow legal pad memos written by Hughes including discussing being "molested by some stupid ass-holes making like earthquakes". [1]
The earthquake mentioned [in www.ratical.org/radiation/inetSeries/testsNquakes.html], which was near Yucca Mtn., was the result of a major new event discovered, or admitted, by scientists, when a California quake, triggered a series of quakes across Nevada and into southwest Utah. Until that time the USGS had maintained such a thing could not happen. Saying that such things could and indeed would happen with underground tests was a key Hughes battle cry. Howard was correct.
Also note that the hottest seismic site in the United States is Mammoth Lakes California west of the NTS, and it underwent a dramatic rebirth in 1980. It is the most dangerous volcanic site in the country. For what it is worth, one of the warnings for the Hughes-AEC battle was that the large underground tests in the megaton range then being exploded in Nevada would reawaken Mammoth lakes within 25 years. Who knows if there was indeed a relationship between the tests and what did happen in 1980, and if Hughes was right. There are not enough facts out there to say one way or the other.
Another Hughes claim was that tritium and plutonium from underground tests would move steadily off-site and would reach ground water locations far sooner than planned. Well guess what the DOE is now doing in Nevada? Trying to explain why tritium and plutonium is moving so fast from the sites of underground tests and how this is a potential problem for all sites with plutonium problems.
Strange world isn't it.
As always;
J Truman
Many used copies of this book can be found at www.bibliofind.com's search page, an excellent resource for locating all manner and form of out-of-print, and otherwise difficult to find books.